Spanish ship Galicia (L-31)

USS San Marcos (front) with USS Donner (LSD-20)
History
United States
Name:	San Marcos
Laid down:	1 September 1944
Launched:	10 January 1945
Commissioned:	15 April 1945
Decommissioned:	1 July 1971
Fate:	Transferred to Spain, 1 July 1971
Struck:	1 August 1974
History
Spain
Name:	Galicia (TA31), (L-31)
Acquired:	1 July 1971
Commissioned:	1 July 1971
Reclassified:	L31, c. 1980
Struck:	1988
Fate:	Scrapped in 1989
General characteristics
Displacement:	7,930 tons (loaded), 4,032 tons (light draft)
Length:	457 ft 9 in (139.52 m) overall
Beam:	72 ft 2 in (22.00 m)
Draft:	8 ft 2 1⁄2 in (2.502 m) fwd, 10 ft 0 1⁄2 in (3.061 m) aft (light);   15 feet 5 1⁄2 inches (4.712 m) fwd, 16 feet 2 inches (4.93 m) aft (loaded)
Propulsion:	2 Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 2 Skinner Uniflow Reciprocating Steam Engines, 2 propeller shafts – each shaft 3,700 hp, at 240 rpm total shaft horse power 7,400, 2 11 ft 9 in diameter, 9 ft 9 in pitch propellers
Speed:	17 knots (31 km/h)
Range:	8,000 nmi. at 15 knots (15,000 km at 28 km/h)
Boats & landing craft carried:	3 × LCT (Mk V or VI)   each w/ 5 medium tanks or 2 × LCT (Mk III or IV)   each w/ 12 medium tanks or 14 × LCM (Mk III)   each w/ 1 medium tank   or 1,500 long tons cargo or 47 × DUKW or 41 × LVT or Any combination of landing vehicles and landing craft up to capacity
Capacity:	22 officers, 218 men
Complement:	17 officers, 237 men (ship); 6 officers, 30 men (landing craft)
Armament:	1 × 5 in / 38 cal. DP gun; 2 × 40 mm quad AA guns; 2 × 40 mm twin AA guns; 16 × 20 mm AA guns
Aircraft carried:	modified to accommodate helicopters on an added portable deck

USS San Marcos (LSD-25) was a Casa Grande-class dock landing ship of the United States Navy, named for the Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest masonry fort still standing in the United States. In 1911, the second-class battleship Texas had also briefly borne the name San Marcos, perhaps for the town of San Marcos, Texas.

San Marcos' keel was laid down on 1 September 1944 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. She was launched on 10 January 1945, and commissioned on 15 April 1945 with Commander L. E. Ellis in command.

San Marcos completed shakedown in early May, took on a cargo of landing boats; and, on 19 May, sailed for the Panama Canal and Pearl Harbor. Arriving on 24 June, she transferred her cargo of 40 boats, loaded a similar cargo, and departed on 29 May. After taking on dredging equipment at Guam, she anchored in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, on 12 August – three days before the cessation of hostilities. On 15 August, she shifted to Naha, repaired tank landing craft (LCTs) through 20 August, then, proceeded to Saipan. There, she loaded mechanized landing craft (LCM-6s), vehicle and personnel landing craft, (LCVPs, "Higgins boats"), and large personnel landing craft (LCPLs), for use by occupation forces in the Tokyo Bay area; and, on 4 September, she arrived in Japan to offload her cargo and to commence operation and maintenance of a boat pool. In early December, she was reassigned to cargo operations; and, through the end of the year, she ferried boats from Aomori to Yokohama.